NEWS 03
FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 MILDURAWEEKLY.COM.AU
FOUNDER of the world-
wide White Ribbon
movement, Canadian
medic Michael Kauf-
man, was pleasantly
surprised that there were
more men than woman
at last week’s White Rib-
bon forum in Sydney.
Dr Kaufman told at-
tendees, including Mil-
dura Rural City Council-
lor and White Ribbon
ambassador Mark Eckel,
that Australia was the
only country in the
world where this hap-
pened.
Cr Eckel made a few
comments on his trip to
Sydney during a brief re-
port to last night’s coun-
cil meeting. He said the
experience had strength-
ened his resolve to high-
light domestic violence
at every level of Govern-
ment.
“Dr Kaufman said
he was proud of the ef-
forts of White Ribbon
Australia and the con-
nection they have estab-
lished with the commu-
nity.”
Cr Eckel said it was
reported to the forum
that the cost of domes-
tic violence in Austra-
lian was in the billions,
with costs associated
with hospitals, courts,
women’s refuges, polic-
ing, workplace harass-
ment, race, unaccept-
able sexual behaviour
and other incidents.
In NSW alone last
year, police attended
130,000
incidences
of domestic violence.
There were 84 deaths
last year, and 34 so
far this year, with one
woman
hospitalised
each hour.
Dr Kaufman said
the most shocking rev-
elation to him was that
our indigenous com-
munity was 35 times
more likely to be hospi-
talised through domes-
tic violence than other
Australians.
Cr Eckel said the
main message he gained
during the 11-hour fo-
rum was that the vast
majority of men were
not violent, but silent.
“What distinguishes a
true leader is that they
do something about it,
no matter what you see
happening in the com-
munity,” he said.
“We need a critical
mass so that in 20, 30,
40 years from now the
community at that time
can look back at the sta-
tistics of today, the inci-
dence of violence and
death against women,
and say what a terrible
time it was in our his-
tory.”
The fight against violence
VICTORIA Police has moved to
allay concerns that new anti-
terrorism measures aimed at
boosting members’ safety will
put a significant dent in coun-
try policing resources, saying it
is an “interim policy” only.
It was widely reported this
month that an email was sent
to Victoria Police members
outlining a raft of anti-terror-
ism measures, some of which
it’s claimed will have a major
impact on country areas.
The Herald Sun reported
that these measures include
not allowing police officers to
work alone at a station unless
provided with an exemption
after a risk assessment – there
are two one-man stations in
the Mallee, at Werrimull and
Speed.
Other measures include re-
quiring two armed offices man
station front counters unless
there is a security screen, and
ensuring at least two officers
work on all patrols.
It was reported that in re-
gional areas, where officers
work on their own more often,
the new measures would “ef-
fectively” halve police rosters.
The Victoria Police Asso-
ciation said while the changes
would impact on resources,
rostering and services offered
across the State, they were
needed to ensure members’
safety.
A Victoria Police spokes-
person said while an “interim
safety policy” was sent to all
officers outlining a range of
measures to help keep them
safe, they stressed that it was an
interim policy only.
“We made it clear that it
was an interim policy and we
were seeking their feedback in
relation to impacts on them,
service delivery, resourcing
and, importantly, their safety,”
the spokesperson said.
“Already the feedback is in-
dicating that there are resource
implications, especially if there
are unexpected absences from
offices.”
While conceding the new
policy could impact on re-
sources, the spokesperson in-
dicated it could be up to local
areas to manage situations in-
volving unexpected absences.
“In these circumstances, lo-
cal management need to con-
sider how to best continue to
service the community, and
that may mean that the station
counter service is not available
to the community if police
need to leave the station ‘two-
up’ to attend a job,” the spokes-
person said.
“We are continually striv-
ing to strike a balance be-
tween protecting the com-
munity and member safety.
“In this current climate, and
given the high threat to our po-
lice, we have to make changes
and this will present some
challenges for us given the size
of our organisation, the com-
plexities of service delivery and
community expectations across
Victoria.”
Victoria Police said the in-
terim policy would remain in
place, and that a final policy
was expected soon.
New anti-terrorism police safety push
MILDURA Rural City
Council chief execu-
tive Gerard José has
warned that intro-
ducing a cap on rates
without a proper un-
derstanding of each
local
government
area’s financial sus-
tainability could have
serious consequences.
In a report to
Councillors ahead of
last night’s monthly
meeting, Mr José said
without this detailed
understanding,
rate
capping and the re-
sulting decline in rev-
enue could ultimately
lead to cuts to spend-
ing on essential infra-
structure maintenance
and renewal, as well as
a possible reduction
in services and com-
munity facilities.
The report stated
that Mr José believed
there
still wasn’t
enough evidence to
support the introduc-
tion of a rate cap, add-
ing that such a cap
would have a minimal
impact on the cost
of living, given rates
comprise just 1.4 per-
cent of the cost of liv-
ing for Victorians.
In the report to
Council, Mr José said
that before rate cap-
ping is introduced,
Local Government’s
role needs to be de-
fined and a framework
established allocating
functions and reve-
nue-raising powers to
support that role.
The Victorian Gov-
ernment intends to
introduce rate capping
in the 2015/2015 fi-
nancial year.
Council CEO’s rate
cap concern
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